Neighborhood property has a bear to cross

A Florida black bear was treed in a yard just north of the airport

In the front yard of a home on Capo Island Road north of the airport, there's a "No Trespassing" sign tacked to one of the lot's many trees.

But bears can't read.

A Florida black bear, looking for food, walked into the yard early Tuesday and caused a little commotion. It's been happening regularly during the last few weeks in the roughly two-mile area extending north from the St. Augustine/St. Johns County Airport.

George Letts, the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office's agricultural deputy, got to the house at about 5 a.m. The bear had been chased up a tree by a family's pet dog. But not before strewing trash, including a few pizza boxes, about the yard.

About 45 minutes after Letts got there, the 200-pound bear shimmied down the tree and ran off, he said.

But that wasn't the end of the bear issue.

Officers and a biologist from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission went around to area neighborhoods Tuesday afternoon telling residents what they can do to prevent bears from coming into their yards.

The owner of the property where the bear was hiding in the tree didn't agree with their suggestions to discourage bears, which can smell food, including trash, from more than a mile away. They told him to put garbage cans in a garage or shed overnight and not to leave pet food or birdseed outside.

"You're not going to do anything but tell us not to take our trash out?" he said, upset that the officers weren't planning to trap the bear and return it to a less-developed area.

The FWC biologist, Andrea Boliek, told him removing the bear, unless it was life-threatening, would not solve the problem. It could find its way back to the area, or another bear could move in, Boliek said.

In Florida there is also very little truly wild land left where authorities are confident the bears wouldn't encounter people.

Arlen Knight, an 81-year-old who also lives on Capo Island Road, said the bear had apparently also rummaged through his waste.

"Whatever it was took all my stuff and threw it all over the road," Knight said.

But coming from upstate New York, he's used to seeing bears and isn't too concerned.

"They don't bother you if you don't bother them," he said. "But I'm not going to walk out without a flashlight."

Boliek said he's right.

The bears, which are a threatened species, typically aren't aggressive and most likely wouldn't attack a person or a pet, she said.

"From a biological perspective, it's not to their advantage to get into an altercation," she said.

The only thing they want is food.

A prime example is that the family's dog was able to chase a dog up the tree, said FWC spokeswoman Joy Hill.

"The reason that that's so important is it shows that the bear wasn't interested in hurting the dog or the people," Hill said. "It was interested in the garbage."

She said it wasn't clear whether one bear or a few had been roaming the area lately, but she and her colleagues hope that, if residents heed their warnings, the bears will stick to their natural habitats.

But as Florida's human and bear populations continue to climb, the amount of that land shrinks, making interaction between the species more likely.

"Less space, more people and more bears," Boliek explained. "It's obviously a recipe for bears and people coming in contact with each other more frequently."